Surrender to God

Query: All through the previous article, you kept using the words, 'surrender' and 'refuge'. What do they mean? Do I have to go to a temple and fall flat at the feet of Nārāyaṇa? Do I have chant some declaration that I belong to God? How should I take lasting refuge in God?

Answer: Falling flat with complete humility towards God or uttering words that pronounce that one belongs to Nārāyaṇa can doubtlessly foster the mood of surrender and one's conviction. But, surrender is not only about participating in some rituals or undertaking some practices. It has to be based on a conviction far deeper than that. 

Let us look at what the Gītā has to say about surrender to Kṛṣṇa. 

In the seventh chapter, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, "This Māyā is constituted of the three Guṇa-s: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.  She belongs to Me and is constructed for the sake of sport by Me. Hence, it is difficult to transcend Māyā, and recognize My excellent and superlative blissful nature. But those, who surrender to Me, transcend Māyā and become devoted to Me." [14]

What is explained in this verse is that Māyā is not simply a non-sentient force to be overcome by sentient beings. She is the very power of God. She is Viṣṇu-Māyā. It is the power of Viṣṇu which enables Māyā to bind and delude the sentient souls. Since the power of Viṣṇu cannot be surpassed, it is not possible for anyone to transcend her with their own personal efforts. 

Until she is transcended, one cannot recognize the greatness of Viṣṇu. The only way out is to surrender to God. This is because, it is He who energizes the binding force of Māyā and she belongs to Him. By surrendering to Him, one can expect that God takes back the energy of Māyā with respect to one who surrenders. After all, He is of unfailing will; He is supremely merciful, and the refuge of one and all. 

All this may appear heavily religious and fantastic. But bear with this for a moment; we should not lose focus. The more important thing to be surprised about is that Arjuna fully understood what Kṛṣṇa meant by 'surrender' without the word having been defined previously in an explicit way. There is no follow on question as to what 'surrender' means. Why? 'Surrender' has already been defined in the previous verses though it may not be apparent to the unskilled eye. 

We need to rewind to understand why Kṛṣṇa started talking about Māyā. In the beginning of the seventh chapter, Kṛṣṇa began to tell Arjuna about His great nature. The purpose of this teaching is to enable Arjuna to practice Yoga. 

At the very outset, it was made clear that this knowledge of God is very hard to attain. Of thousands who are qualified to analyze the Vedas, only a few keep trying without giving up. Even among those who keep trying, very few come to know God. Again, among these knowers, very few know Kṛṣṇa in a true way. This is almost like saying that nobody knows God in a true way. 

A natural question arises as to why there is this sorry state.  Kṛṣṇa does not answer it immediately. He proceeds to talk about His truth, and then He comes to Māyā. Māyā is the reason why God is so hard to be truly known. Only those who cross Māyā, discover and know God truly.

So far so good. But where has surrender been explained? It is the truth of Viṣṇu which finds explanation in the intervening verses. It is this truth which is masked by Māyā. Is knowing the entire truth of Viṣṇu equal to surrender? This only leads us to chicken-and-egg scenario!

At this stage, we need to stop doing religious philosophy like abstract mathematics and open our eyes to what is being discussed in actual reality. Māyā is the force of delusion. What does this delusion do to us? By delusion, we get angry, we suffer, etc. But those are all effects. What is its core job? The core job of delusion is creating the perception of separate, independent existence. "I am separate. This is my body. No, this body is me, I am my mind. I need to win against everyone else. I came into this world by myself. I will win everything by myself. I deserve only happiness and victories. Anyone who comes in my way must be put away. All obstacles to my well-being are wrong. I am always right. I will buy cars, I will buy houses, I will get married, have kids, have a great job and appear on covers of leading magazines!" Don't laugh reading this. It is Māyā who laughs at us everyday when we think such thoughts and conduct ourselves like emperors who have been forced to live the life of an ordinary mortal. 

 

[Sourced from Google search]

Rationally, we can tell that everyone of the above thoughts is completely wrong. We are not separate. There is no line or wall between us and the universe. Our bodies are not built by us with our own materials. Our bodies belong to the universe. The universe is imperfect and suffering lies at the core of physical existence. There is cut-throat competition; Nature is hostile. When we die, the entire fantasy dies with us. It is all abruptly over. We cannot take any of our riches with us. Even if someone speaks greatly about us after our death, we are not going to know it. The more we understand nature, the more we come to realize that our existence is pointless; it has nothing for us as separate, lonely fellows. 

Spiritually, as one becomes more and more pure, one is still subject to the vagaries of nature. As long as one is watchful, one can let those vagaries pass without letting violence in to oneself and others. But the moment one drops the watch, it is disaster. Many spiritual teachers start off with good intentions but due to incomplete understanding of truth, they falter and commit serious mistakes. Then, they get exposed as fake-gurus. Though we may mature in the popular spiritual methods, practice mindfulness or some other form of meditation, we still know that we are not entirely free. We cannot control what comes to us. In fact, it only becomes clear that hardly anything is in our control. 

This is why Kṛṣṇa starts the teaching with an important message: "Arjuna! This non-sentient nature and its manifold divisions belong to Me. The sentient souls, who enliven and sustain the non-sentient nature, are also Mine. The sentient entities are a superior wealth to Me compared to the non-sentient elements. This entire universe, composed of just these two, effectively belonging to Me. I am the origin and the end of the worlds, actualizing and terminating the states of these sentient and non-sentient elements." [7-4:6]

This is the knowledge that cuts through the illusion of separateness and self-sovereignty. If we recollect the words of Rāma from the previous article, surrender is the knowledge, 'I belong to God'. Not only do I belong to God, but like me, everything and everyone else also belongs to God. Nothing is mine, not even me. The origin, sustenance and termination of our states of existence is subject to the laws of God. 

Surrender is becoming aware of God as the owner of the soul and of everything else. Svāmī Nammāzvār said, 'Destroy the notions of false-ego (self-sovereignty and separateness) and false-possession (attachment to other things thinking they are our own) to their very roots. Resort to God. There is no good like that!'

We violate truth when we behave as if we have self-sovereignty. We violate truth when we behave as if some secret bond exists between ourselves and our legally endowed possessions. To the fabric of reality, both behaviors are mithyācāra (false discipline). By mind, word, and deed, we become extremely violent when we subscribe to false discipline. It is joke really. On the one hand, we think we are separate and sovereign, cut off from everything else. On the other hand, we think some secret, permanent bond exists between us and the things we desire.

Surrender is the constant recognition that one belongs to Viṣṇu. This is the meaning of the word Vaiṣṇava. I belong to Viṣṇu; so, I am Vaiṣṇava. 

It is only because Kṛṣṇa already spoke of this that Arjuna understood what 'surrender' meant. He was deluded initially that he was a separate being engaged in war with other separate beings. He was worried if he would suffer the consequences of his actions. He tried to reason out what was good for him. Superficial reasoning told him something; his inner nature told him something else. Instead of just walking off with conviction that war is wrong, his hands trembled; he wept and suffered in bewilderment. Instead of fighting with conviction, he became hesitant. He failed to work out what was good for him. He started analyzing what is dharma and what is not dharma, and became even more confused. We find ourselves in such situations often. We realize that we cannot work out what is good for us through simple rules or mantra-s. In the comfort of the arm-chair, everyone is a genius. We know exactly what must be done, how things must be done. But in the heat of life, everyone is confused. Arjuna surrendered to God to escape this confusion. Now, Kṛṣṇa tells him to surrender to become free of the root, Māyā, itself.  This second surrender is not just looking deep within to God for answers. It is the full knowledge of our relationship with God: we belong to Him. 

The very last verse in the Gītā reiterates this: "Abandon completely all ways of seeking your own good (dharma-s) and surrender to Me. Don't worry!" [18-66]

The right form of abandonment is taught in the earlier section of the eighteenth chapter. The correct form of abandonment does not involve simple cessation of all actions - which is impossible for us. It involves performing actions as service to God without the notions: 'I am the sovereign doer', 'this is my action', and 'the fruit of this action is mine'. This is the core discipline of Karma Yoga. 

Dharma has purpose. We still need to practice it, but without attachment. Attachment is an outcome of ignorance. Abandoning attachment precedes surrender. First, we realize the truth of the things as not belonging to us. Then, we realize that all these things and we ourselves belong to God. The first stage involves abandoning false notions. The second stage involves resorting to the right notion. The first is sannyāsa. The second is prapatti.

By surrendering to God, we begin to realize Him as He is. He begin to start loving Him. We dedicate our entire lives to Him. Even this 'dedication' is not an artificial action; it is mere realization of truth. Devotion and love towards God pervade our lives. Driven by this experience, we serve Nārāyaṇa, not just because of understanding the truth, but also out of love. Bhakti follows surrender/Prapatti; Prapatti follows sannyāsa. 

To one who has surrendered, the grace of God works completely. We begin to start knowing Him. The knowledge/Jñāna of God matures to the form of love metamorphosing into Bhakti. It becomes bhakti-rūpāpanna jñāna. The full realization of God is possible only by Bhakti. Kṛṣṇa tells this to  Arjuna, 'I can be fully realized only by exclusive Bhakti!' He reveals Himself only to the Bhakta. Why? Also, why do you keep using words like Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Nārāyaṇa, and Viṣṇu? Aren't they just names? Can't we just do with 'God'?

There is strong purpose behind all of this. But then, this article is about surrender. We will talk about Bhakti and Viṣṇu separately later.

May Kṛṣṇa be gladdened by this study of Gītā.

May Kṛṣṇa guide us from darkness to light. 

May Kṛṣṇa enjoy us, churned out from saṃsāra, as He would enjoy butter.

sarvaṃ śrīkṛṣṇārpaṇameva

pārthasūtāya namaḥ